Kenya`s favourite for London Marathon bows out

Nairobi: Lucy Kabuu, one of Kenya`s favourites for the women`s race at the April 21 London Marathon, has pulled out of the World Marathon Majors event.

Spouse Josephat Maina confirmed on Tuesday that Kabuu, whose last outing was a career best 66 minutes 9 seconds victory at the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half Marathon in the UAE, had not recovered sufficiently from the excursions of her victory to compete at the World Marathon Majors event.

"We are disappointed she will not be running in London. After running at RAK, her body has not been responding well in training and this led to the decision not to compete in London," Maina said.

"We hope she will have recovered enough to run in other Marathon Major races later in the year," Maina said of the national women`s marathon record holder with 2:19:34 achieved with her second finish at last year`s Dubai Marathon.

Kabuu is the second biggest withdrawal from the elite race following that of Ethiopian Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, who pulled out due to an injury.